Vapor-burning- lamp



N. MASON.

Vapor Burner.

Patented July 20, 1858.

No. 20,952.v

N. Petrus Plmwumngnplmr, wasmngm D4 c.

rUNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

N. MASON, OF CHELSEA, MASSACHUSETTS.

VAPOR-BURNING LAMP.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 20,952, dated July 20, 1858.

To all lwhom 'it may concern.'

Be it known that I, NICHOLAS MASON, of Chelsea, county of Suffolk, andState of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and usefulimprovements in the burners of lamps intended for burning the gasgenerated from burning uid camphene or other volatile combustiblefluids, and that the following description, with the accompanyingdrawings, forms a full, clear, and exact specification thereof.

The essential features of my invention are my cylindrical sheath,whereby the lighting of the lamp is greatly facilitated, and my safetytube, whereby the gas generated in the lamp itself is conducted directlyand without obstruction to the point of combustion, thus obviating alldanger of its collection and explosion within the lamp, all of whichwith other minor points will be more particularly hereinafter described.

Figure l is an elevation of my improved burner with the cylindricalsheath lowered down ready for lighting the lamp. Fig. 2 is a verticalsection with sheath raised'as it is when the lamp is lighted and burningthe gas. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on line A B. Fig. 4 is ahorizontal section on line C D. Fig. 5 is a horizontal section on line EF. Fig. 6 is a horizontal section on line G H.

Similar letters represent similar parts in all the views.

The wick a is inserted in the wick tube b (one wick will last a longtime). lVithin the wick tube it will be observed that there is anothersmall tube c which I call my safety tube, occupying ya small portion ofits area, and having an opening at its upper extremity at the top of thewick tube. This tube c extends down into the lamp, and has a number ofsmall openings CZ Z d &c. into the reservoir of the lamp. I find thepractical f necessity of a considerable number of these holes, extendingat short intervals, nearly or, quite, the whole length of that part ofthe wick tube within the lamp reservoir, as I find by experiment thatthe explosive gas lies in a comparative thin sheet or layer directlyover the surface of the fluid, and therefore a hole into the safetytube, near the top of the lamp, will not answer the purpose Vas it willfrequently be above the stratum of gas when the fluid is low, nor willone near the bottom, answer better, as it will be immersed in fiuid agreater part of the time. I find the perfect and practical operation ofthis small tube, or duct to be to convey any gas that may be generatedin the reservoir of the lamp, directly to the point of combustion, andthus prevent all liability to its collection and explosion within thelamp. This part of my invention is equally as applicable and importantto lamps intended for burning camphene or burning fluid in the ordinaryway, as to fluid gas lamps.

It will be observed that the wick tube is inserted' by a screw thread ate into a circumscribingcylinder f. This circumscribing cylinder f isinserted into the mouth piece of the lamp by a screw thread g; there isan enlarged chamber in this cylinder at 7L through a slot, in which z'protrudes, the lever j which is used for turning the wick tube partiallyaround for purposes hereafter described.

The wick tube is fitted tight in the cylinder f by means of a screwthread or ground oint, both above and below the chamber that containsthe lever. The lower joint being to prevent the fluid from running outof the lamp, and the upper one, for preventing the air from passing up,into the gas chamber; another great advantage of the chamber L is, thatit forms an air chamber, and thus prevents the heat of the burner fromheating the fluid in the lamp.

The letter 7e represents the cylindrical sheath; the operation of whichmay be described as follows: It will be observed that there are twoshort screw threads cut on the inner surface of the sheath, the lowerone of which Z when the sheath is raised connects with a correspondingscrew thread m on the circumscribing cylinder f, while the upper threadn connects with a screw thread 0 that is cut on the lower part of theexteriorl surface of the mouth piece, or piece of metal that containsthe orifices for the gas, the peculiarities of which will be hereafterdescribed. But continuing for the present the explanation of the sheath,it will be observed that when by turning the screw thread sufflcientlythe sheath is suffered to drop down as shown in Fig. l, it leaves aportion of the wick o out and exposed to view through two large openingsp p in the circumscribing cylinder f and corresponding openings g 'g inthe wick tube through which the exposed portion of the wick, may beconveniently ignited in the same'manner as an ordinary llO fluid lamp.It will be observed that these openings are an inch or two below the topof the wick tube, and the tendency of igniting the wick at this place isto heat up that portion of the wick that remains above 1t, and thusfacilitate the generation of gas, after two or three minutes which isrequired to heat the cap sufliciently to generate the first supply ofgas, if it is desired to operate the lamp, as a gas lamp, the sheath maybe raised, and the screw threads l m and a 0 being firmly connected, anair tight chamber is at once formed, and the gas, rushing out throughthe various openings in the mouth piece, or a portion of them, burns instreams of clear and steady light till all the fluid in the lampreservoir is converted into gas and consumed.

The chief advantage of my cylindrical sheath is the facility it affordsfor lighting the lamp, as when the sheath is lowered so as to expose aportion of the wick through the opening, the wick itself can beconveniently lighted, without the intervention of any secondary cup orswab, of burning fluid or other combustible matter, which is necessaryto start all other lamps of this species with which I am acquainted; anincidental, but by no means a small advantage of which is, that a lightcan be maintained in the room by the lamp itself during the whole timethe operation of starting the lamp for gas is being carried on.

In the accompanying drawings, the upper part of the wick tube, (which Ishall call the throat piece) is constructed separately, the shape ofwhich, is shown in Figs. 2, and 5; the upper part of which r is madecom,- paratively thick and solid, and has various holes and grooves,around and through it, as shown by the drawings, to allow the passage ofthe gas to the mouth piece. It will also be observed, that there arefour forked shaped prongs s, s, s, s, attached to it, running down for adistance of an inch or two around the wick, inside the wick tube, andhaving small shoulders at t t t t which sit in to square steps or slotsin the upper edge of the wick tube, so as to insure the turning of thethroat piece with the wick tube; but I lay no particular stress on thisprecise method of construction, as the throat piece may be constructedsolid with the wick tube, or secured to it by any other suitable methodthat may be preferred.

The construction of the mouth piece, and its connection with the throatpiece is clearly shown in the sectional views, Figs. 2, 3, and 4, thecurrents of gas being represented by red arrows. The mouth piece isconstructed as shown, in two pieces, the lower one, of which u issecured by a screw thread o to the cylinder f and has four smallcircular apertures for flame w a: y .e communicating by a ground jointdirectly with the four grooves as Z2 c d in the throat piece. The upperpart of the mouth piece e is secured to the lower part by a screw threadat f and has a hollow teat or stem at g which fits by a ground jointinto an appropriate chamber or cup in the apex of the throat piece.There are two holes h and i opening from the chamber into the spacearound the throat piece, and two holes j and 7c in the teat or stem,opening into its internal chamber, as shown in Fig. 3; the external orflame orifices in the upper part of the mouth piece, will be observed tobe one fan jet Z at the apex, and two small circular jets m and n on thesides.

By careful inspection of the drawings it will be observed that theeffect of the combined connections of the mouth and throat pieces, withtheir ground joint surfaces, and the various perforations indicated, isto alternately close or cut off in a variety of permutations thedifferent orifices in the mouth piece accordingly, as by means of thelever or handle j the wick tube and throat piece are set in differentrelative positions with the mouth piece-precisely on the principle of asteam engine with rolling valves, or even many gas and water cocks areyconstructed on this principle.

In particular it will be observed, that, when the lever stands inposition indicated by the letter P that the grooves a 5 c d willcoincide with the apertures fw y a, while at the same time neither ofthe apertures y" or ,76' will coincide with the apertures h or z" andthus in this position of the lever, all 4 of the flame holes in thelower part of the mouth piece will be open, and those in the upper partclosed. By further examination, it will be observed, (withoutunnecessary prolixity of explanations that, when the lever stands at Qtwo of the holes in the lower piece will be open and those in the upperpiece closed; and, again, when the lever stands at R two of the bottomholes will be open by coincidence of the slotted grooves a and c withthe holes w and g/ while the apertures in the top piece will be open bythe coincidence of the apertures j and h and when the lever stands at Sall the holes in the lower piece will be closed, and those in the toppiece open by the coincidence of the apertures z" and f and stillfurther changes might be made by constructing the various apertures indifferent relative positions.

Having thus described my improvements, what I claim as my invention, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. I claim the two holes q, g, in the wick tube for the purposes setforth.

2. I claim my cylindrical sheath, arranged and operating substantiallyvin the manner and for the purposes herein set forth and described.

3. I do not claim Cutting o the gas by means of rolling valves as thisis common in steam engines, and n gas and Water cocks and other lamps;but I claim the double row 5 or series of rolling valves containedWithin the mouth piece of the burner, arranged and operating incombination with each other and with the throat piece of the Wick tube,substantially in the manner herein set forth and described.

NICHOLAS MASON. Witnesses:

S. J. GORDON, LUTHER BRIGGS, J r.

